10 bob

Two days ago I was riding in a matatu with a friend. He argued the price down from 80 bob to 70. When we paid, the conductor withheld our 10 bob change, claiming that the price only applied to one of us even though we were clearly traveling together. I had to pay 10 bob more.

That 10 bob angered me. Not because of the amount I was ripped off (it’s about 13 US cents) but because my Kenyan friend was charged the agreed upon price while the white girl had to pay more.

But my friend wasn’t bothered. He said that some battles are worth fighting, and this wasn’t one of them. I questioned him, because I often choose that battle to fight. I choose all battles where I’m clearly ripped off based on skin color, even if it’s only for a few cents.

To my friend, there is a cultural difference between asked for 1000 bob or 10. If someone wants 1000 bob, they probably need it. If someone takes 10, they’re doing it because they’re stuck in Soweto, as my friend calls it.

Soweto is the belief that the rich must give to the poor simple because they’re rich. My friend also calls it the poverty mentality, or the Robin Hood culture. People ask me for money because being white means I’m rich even if I’m not. But they also ask my Kenyan friend, who is not rich but who at least has a good paying job. The people who are asking don’t necessarily need money, either. They ask because they believe it’s their right to be given money, and your obligation to give. They don’t care how much, 10 bob will do it.

My friend didn’t fight the 10 bob in the matatu because that acknowledges Soweto. He’s been dealing with this all his life. He can’t be bothered by it.

Share this:

Like this:

Related

6 Responses to “10 bob”

When you first get to a place, you pay the new person tax and the white tax. Once you know the price, you only pay the white tax.

Sometimes it bothers me too, but most of the time, I feel angry at the ridiculous poverty/inequality/etc that makes someone feel that entitled. The truth of the matter is that even I don’t have nearly as much money as many bazungu, I have a safety net of friends and family that is worth paying taxes on.

My anger is definitely at the culture of expecting hand-outs not at having to pay a new person tax or white tax, which I’ve come to accept. This culture suggests a lack of effort is needed to get what you want. That’s not to say that everyone sits back and waits for people to give them solutions to all their problems. In fact, some people I’ve met here are the hardest workers I’ve ever come across, and they take pride in whatever little they have. But Soweto culture is still pervasive, and it teaches people that they don’t have to work improve themselves (the sense of entitlement that you mentioned). I personally believe in hard work and the ability to make something out of nothing, but that’s the American in me.

Many matatu touts come from a particularly heinous breed of bastard. I recommend learning insults to level at the ones who are out to take advantage of people who make less than them.

If nothing else, you can just smile and say “Oh, asante mwizi. Nimefurahi sana kuibiwa” or Oh, thank you thief. I am very happy to have been robbed. But say it really loudly so that the other passengers hear you.

5 hours after I wrote this post, a friend of mine wrote a post on the exact same subject with the exact same title (except in Kiswahili). We even used some of the same phrases. Neither of us saw what the other one wrote until a day later.

While my post has a lot of anger and passion, my friend writes more objectively. He does a really nice job of capturing the handout culture. Check it out here:

interesanteeee lil baby. obvi i’m tres familiare with the “tax” but interesting bc i’ve heard a lot of people mention the “Soweto” culture here in Nai. Funny thing is- and I still haven’t been able to get to the bottom of it- I’m curious if it has it’s roots in the mid70s in S Africa. Outside of Johanneseburg, there’ a township called Soweto (South West Township). There was a big uprising there against the apartheid rule when they tried to enforce Afrikaans instead of English. The result was an independent municipality with locally elected officials, etc. None of my Kenyan friends so far know if there’s a conneccione….hmm…

The township in SA was actually the first thing I thought of when I heard my friend using the name “Soweto.” I’ve been trying to figure out if there’s a connection myself. I only know about Soweto from its uprising history, and I know nothing about the culture there… Hmm indeed…